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Howdy, Partner!

Mandi Richey, Community Minister

I’m not from Texas, but there’s something inviting about the way Texans greet one another. They say, “Hey y’all,” or “How y’all doin’?” or sometimes they say “Howdy, partner.” As the new community minister at Faith United Methodist Church on South Lamar, I just wanted to say, “howdy, partners.” Partners in ministry, that is.

What does it mean to be a partner? A partner is a person who shares or is associated with another in some action or endeavor.” A partner is a sharer.

We are a community at Faith. We share common beliefs and common goals. One of our goals is to be relevant in our community. So how do we do that? We partner. We connect. We want to make our presence known in the community. We don’t just want to be “the church with the great preschool” or “that church next to Matt’s El Rancho”. What do we want to be known for? Don’t we want to be known as “the church that helps people” or “the church that cares about South Austin”?

Connection. Community. Partnering. Kinda reminds me of this image:

We are driven by love. Love for God, love for others and love for ourselves. We want to be a loving and caring community. This is a great goal. But notice how the hands are extending outward from the heart? We need to extend, too. Into our community. Each hand can represent a connection we make in our community. Each hand can be a partnership we make with an elementary school or local restaurant. Together we will reach out our hands into our community with love.

As community minister, I can help to find things we can do. I can help us to find places where we can get out and serve the community. But I can’t do this community ministry work without you. I need you to partner with me. It has to be the whole Faith community reaching out, not just one person. You are the ones who live and work in the surrounding community. You are the ones who can see the needs of the community. It might be mulching trees or handing out water bottles or simply offering a smile.

Being part of a community is a coming together for unity. Come – unity. In a community, each person brings something different to the table. We each have different gifts to share. So let us all use whatever gifts we have to help and serve. Not everyone is gifted at tutoring students, but I bet someone is. Not everyone is good at cooking, but I bet a few of you are. Not everyone can be an organizer, but I’ll bet there’s one or two among you.

When we reach out our hands to partner with the community because of the love we have for God and for each other, community connections happen. Partnerships are born and nurtured and grown.